Stick these ceramic feet on any gaming mouse for an instant upgrade

Lexip Mo42 ceramic glide feet — (Image credit: Lexip)

The Teflon pads on the bottom of even the best gaming mice can get worn down after putting hundreds of hours into your favorite game. Changing from a fabric mousepad to a harder surface might temporarily help, but can scratch the Teflon even further. You're better off replacing the Teflon, or maybe upgrading to a different mouse if you were planning to anyway.

If you'd rather replace the Teflon, you might want to look into a more durable, longer lasting option: ceramic glide feet. Lexip, the company behind the "dual joystick" mouse, has special ceramic glide feet embedded into its mouse, and also has a stand-alone, stick-on version, the Mo42. Not only do the ceramic feet give nearly any mouse an instant upgrade, but they make the gliding motion across any surface smoother, which helps when it comes to gaming.

For $19.99 and six gliders to a pack, each ceramic foot is just under 0.05 inches thick and 0.31 inches long, so you don't have to worry about the laser or optical sensor being lifted out of range; the Mo42 feet fall well under the typical 1.3mm height tolerance. Depending on your mouse, you might not need to use all the ceramic feet either. It is worth noting that the Mo42 is not compatible with the Madcatz RATZ 9 mouse, unfortunately.

The ceramic glide feet are easy to install, too. After cleaning the bottom of your mouse with the provided wipes, peal off one side of a sticker, place on the back of the mouse, peal off the other side, and then adhere one of the glide feet. It should also go without saying to find the right position for the feet before sticking them on; properly distributing them will ensure you mouse remains stable. And, of course, never block the sensor.

You might also want to remove the old Teflon before sticking on the ceramic feet to avoid any possible weird friction, but it's not necessary. I should also point out that the Mo42 won't fit into the original foot profile of your mouse like Hyperglides do for certain mice, but that doesn't matter either.

One minor complaint is that pealing off that second side to the stickers isn't easy. I had to use a needle and tweezers to get the protective film off and make sure I didn't accidentally peel off the sticker from the mouse. If there is any barrier to using the Mo42 ceramic feet, it's these stickers because they are incredibly frustrating to deal with if you don't have the right tools handy.

But can the Mo42 ceramic feet improve any mouse and your gaming skills at the same time? The Lexip Pu94 mouse isn't good for FPSes, but the ceramic feet could possibly increase precision on a mouse well-suited for that kind of game.

Using a brand new, $20 budget MSI Clutch GM10 gaming mouse, I played a few rounds of Overwatch as Soilder 76 on a fabric mousepad before swapping the Teflon for ceramic. Games can vary wildly at different skill levels, especially on quick play, so using shot accuracy as a barometer is an inexact science, but compared to my overall average accuracy of 37 percent with my Logitech G403, I scored 28 percent accuracy with the MSI Clutch—and brand new Teflon pads.

With the ceramic feet, my average accuracy increased to 35 percent, surprisingly. This could be do to a variety of reasons: easier match, better focus, etc., but I didn't change the DPI on the mouse. Reviewing the Pu94 previously, I already knew the movement would be much smoother, but that mouse is heavier than the Logitech G403 and the MSI Clutch GM10, so I didn't know to what extent. Having the Mo42 ceramic feet on the bottom of my budget mouse not only make it glide easier, but I also feel like I have a bit more control over my movements when playing a game. Movement is even smoother on a hard mousepad, as the mouse can now literally glide over the surface.

If you're looking for a solid upgrade from Teflon pads, Lexip's Mo42 ceramic glide feet fill a specific, niche part of the gaming mice market that I didn't even know needed to be filled. They definitely are an instant upgrade to even the most budget of budget mice, and I wish these were standard on every gaming mouse.

When Joanna's not writing about gaming desktops, cloud gaming, or other hardware-related things, she's doing terrible stuff in The Sims 4, roleplaying as a Malkavian, or playing horror games that would give normal people nightmares. She also likes narrative adventures.